12/18/00

Jean Francois (he answers to "Jean", "Francois", or both) was most recently Gerente General of the Hoteles Confortel on the Isla de Margarita, and was previously general manager of the Hotel Puerto Viejo Resort and Marina during it's final stages of construction and grand opening. We anticipate great things from him, and he is looking forward to meeting all of our clients next year.

12/12/00

Water is coming; water is coming!

Several of our neighbors already have water service from the municipality, and we expect to receive our first "delivery" any day now. Once we have an assured water supply, we will be able to finish cleaning up the property, resume our garden irrigation, and get ready to reopen with our full complement of services on February 1, 2001.

Reconstruction of the Litoral Central continues at what is a pretty rapid pace (for Venezuela, anyway). The road from Caraballeda to the airport is now completely paved, and the one remaining bridge reconstruction appears to be almost completed (only one lane is open at the moment, so finishing this project will remove the last major obstacle to smooth traffic flow between the Marina and the airport.)

Dredging of the Caraballeda channel continues, but the Captains who are fishing now report no problems getting in or out of the Laguna.

The only bad news from my recent visit is that the Sheraton Macuto is not currently scheduled to restart operations until "sometime in March." This means that Marina Portofino will probably be the first, quality "hotel" property to reopen in this area.

This past fishing season was a very good one, and the blue marlin have returned in numbers so fishing is extremely good right now.

We are all looking forward to a productive Winter/Spring season and hope to see you here again soon. Happy Holidays to you and yours.

Jeff West

PS- We've added a new section to this web site to explain the legal intricacies of the charter business in Venezuela for those Owners and Captains who may be interested. You can find it here.

10/27/00

We have nothing but good news to report after my return yesterday from Caraballeda. The headlines are:

1) Hidrocapital said on Tuesday that we should have fresh water "within two weeks." I'm not sure whether to believe this or not, but Wendy's was supposed to reopen (with water service) on Wednesday the 26th (I was traveling so did not get my "re-inaugural" Frosty.)

2) The dredging of the channel began about two weeks ago, thanks to the diligent efforts of Manuel Felivert, the Manager of the Caraballeda Yacht and Golf Club. I met with him and the Board of Directors of the Club on Tuesday. They expect the dredging will take about three months, just for the channel, and that they will not be finished with the dredging of the slips at the Club until about April. But we are in line for use of the dredge after they are done with it.

3) Also through Manuel's efforts, the discharge of sewage into the lagoon was stopped one week ago. Mille gracias!

4) As of Monday the 25th we have a telephone at the Marina. The new number is (from the US) 011-58-14-129-0122. (If you are in Venezuela, dial 014-129-0122.)

The bad news is that this is a "base station" cellular telephone line from Telcel. As such, we can use it only to call within our local area, and to Caracas. International calls are not possible with this telephone (although we may receive international calls), nor can we place calls to anyone's cellular 'phone who is not on the Telcel (014) system [e.g., we cannot call anyone who has a Movilnet 016- cellular number.] We also cannot use this telephone for E-mail, as yet. We have requested another Telcel line for this purpose, but they are still testing the data service and are unable to promise us a delivery date. But at least you can now call Macuto in his office, or send us a fax (on the same number.) This technology really proves the old adage that "you can call us, but we can't call you."

5) The reconstruction effort is continuing, and I can see quite a bit of progress in the month since my last visit. More and more people are returning to live in the area, and stores and restaurants continue the clean up and reopening process. But we wish Mr. Chavez had permitted the US Army Corps of Engineers to "do their thing"– the work would be done by now!

6) Last, but by no means least, the fishing has been very good, and the weather has been pretty calm most days. We have nine boats on the dock at the moment, and everyone seems to be having a good time and enjoying themselves, both offshore and at the Marina.

We expect to fully reopen Marina Portofino on or about the first of February, 2001. (The latest rumors suggest that the Sheraton Macuto will reopen in either December or January.)

We are now accepting reservations for the Winter/Spring 2001 season.

We are also accepting reservations for the Fall 2001 season at this time.

Please download a copy of our Dockage Contract and Yacht Registration Form (also available in PDF format from this link), fill them out, and send both completed forms (either via E-mail to Marina Portofino or snail mail to Jeff West, PO Box 158, Harwich Port, MA 02646) along with a check for one months dockage for EACH season (Winter/Spring/Summer, 2001 or Fall, 2001) for which you would like a reservation. Please make all checks payable to Marina Portofino c.a.

Our plan is to maintain our discounted dockage prices through the upcoming Winter/Spring season and the summer time (in order to encourage more of you to come, obviously), and to return to our normal pricing beginning September 1, 2001.

We will ask those of you who would like to reserve a space for next Fall to send us a deposit of one months dockage now, with the balance of the three (3) month minimum dockage commitment due on or before 7/1/2001. The minimum dockage commitment for the upcoming Winter/Spring season is two (2) months.

PS- The "rumor mill" says that Ronnie Morrison has STILL not contributed his fair share of the monies required to dredge the channel. Perhaps the fact that his dock is currently empty has something to do with this, or perhaps not. In any event, those of you who are his customers should ask him, BEFORE you send him any deposit money for next year, if he thinks he should get a "free ride" forever....

8/29/00

Although the dredging of the Caraballeda channel has not yet begun, our Dockmaster Carlos "Macuto" Sanchez has determined that we will be able to offer dock space for the coming season to a limited number of boats who are willing to use our facilities at their own risk. That is to say that we cannot accept responsibility for any damage to yachts using our facilities, because we cannot assure Captains or owners that any minimum depth will be maintained in the Caraballeda lagoon or the channel.

That said, please contact Macuto at 011-58-16-610-9271 (from the US) or 016-610-9271 (if you are already in Venezuela) if you would like to get on "the list." The Marina WILL REMAIN CLOSED until further notice, and we will NOT be offering our full range of services (only dockage, electricity, water – trucked in, at the moment, and not recommended for drinking purposes – and 24 hour security).

We only have a limited amount of space because of siltation in the lagoon in front of the eastern portion of our dock. So please call Macuto if you would like to be included in our limited "at-your-own-risk" program for this season.

8/14/00

As we feared, the dredging of the channel into the lagoon has not yet started. The reason for this is that several of the abutting property owners have refused to pay their assessments, and so Club Caraballeda has been unwilling to start the work. One of the offenders is Ronnie Morrison, so those of you who are planning to stay at La Jolla should contact him before you attempt to enter the channel to see if it is passable. And while you're at it, please ask him to pay his fair share!

7/20/00

After spending the last week in Caraballeda, I am extremely sorry to report that Marina Portofino will NOT be able to reopen for the upcoming Fall fishing season in Venezuela.

Fishing is excellent right now (Dale Clavo slammed both Friday and Saturday of last week, and Capt. Paul Ivey reports that the whites are appearing in numbers already); the Marina property is in excellent condition; our employees are very eager to get back to work; and we have customers literally "standing in line" for slip and room reservations. So, what's the problem?

Unfortunately there are several problems over which we have little or no control:

1) The flooding and mud slides of December have almost completely closed the channel to all but very small boat traffic. For the last four months we have been working with the Board of Directors of the Caraballeda Yacht Club, and with all of the other property owners abutting the lagoon, to make arrangements to dredge the channel and to remove some of the peñeros which have sunk alongside the channel. We are happy to report that, as of the end of last week, every property owner (with the sole exception of Ronnie Morrison -owner of the La Jolla facility) has agreed to participate in funding this effort. Manuel Felivert, manager of the Club, told me on Tuesday that the dredging will begin "in 10 days" and that it should take approximately 15 days to provide a serviceable channel. This is Venezuela, however, and we must wait to be sure the channel is completely passable before we can think about restarting operations.

2) At the present time there is NO public safety presence in the town of Caraballeda. The police station next door to the Sheraton is closed, and many people report that they are afraid to walk around the streets of Caraballeda after dark (although most report that cabs are fine at night- if you can find one!)

3) Even if you could find a cab, at the moment there is hardly anyplace to go at night (or during the day, for that matter.) The Sheraton is closed (and is not expected to reopen until mid-December); the Melia is closed (and is rumored not to reopen for several years); only the Bodegon del Lino and the Hong Kong Chef (of the good restaurants) are open. And the Bodegon is only open on weekends. For those of you who are familiar with the area, McDonalds, El Velero and Da Remo and Cabo Kennedy are open; Wendys, El Gran Farrallon, La Gabarra, El Porton de Timotes, Crema de Las Anclas, Da Ezio, Supermercado Bahia and Supermercado Rio Jordan, La Boutique de la Carne, the good hardware store, and almost every other business in town are closed and are rumored to be considering reopening only after the first of the year.

4) Logistics is a big problem for everyone in the Caraballeda area- only one supermarket, one bakery, one drugstore and one hardware store are open at the moment. As you might expect there are two functioning liquor stores, but none of the major banks have reopened (although Banco Provincial is supposed to reopen next month.) And of course we still do not have water or telephone service. [Note that while we can provide water for the Marina, either by drilling a well on the property or by trucking it in, this does not solve the problem that our employees would have securing water for their own families, so the water problem is much more pervasive, and difficult to solve, than you might expect.] We do not know when public water and telephone service will be restored.

5) The road from the airport to Caraballeda has been cleared except for one 1/2 mile section in Camuri Chico. Several of the bridges are still being rebuilt, so there are still a few one-lane sections on the paved portion, and traffic is sometimes pretty horrible (it took us almost an hour and 1/2 to go from the airport to the Marina Tuesday at midday.)

Some people are starting to move back into the Caraballeda area, and we expect continuing progress with the cleanup and rebuilding effort over the next few months, and continuing into next year. But the "bottom line" of all of this is that, while we would very much like to reopen for this upcoming season, we can NOT guarantee that we can provide you with good (or even adequate) service at this time. And we CAN guarantee that the normal Venezuelan "pleasures" of arranging for food, ice, drink, airport transfers, hotel rooms, etc., etc. will be significantly more "challenging" this fall than ever before- which is pretty much guaranteed to cut into everyone's "fun quotient."

We pride ourselves on offering a very high level of service, and a fun atmosphere, to our guests. We do not like to make excuses. Rather than have to make a whole series of apologies, we prefer to wait until we can offer you the level of service that you have come to expect from us.

So we plan to reopen Marina Portofino on (or perhaps slightly before) February 1, 2001, in plenty of time for what we expect will be an exciting Spring blue marlin season. We hope to see you then!

Best regards, and tight lines!

PS- We understand that South Fishing still plans to run the Shootout Tournament in late September, and that Richard Gibson still plans to hold his Grand Slam Tournaments in October. All of these events will be based this year in Puerto Viejo, not in Caraballeda. Puerto Viejo has been up and running since February, and does not share the problems we have in Caraballeda.

• Old Flash Reports Index
• An overview of Marina Portofino
• Important information for visiting vessels and crews is now available at Port Entry Procedures
• A brief "How-To" for Owners and Captains regarding Legal Charters in Venezuela
• Read or Download our Dockage Contract and Yacht Registration Form
• QCA (Questions Captains Ask) (A list of FAQs by and for Captains)
• FAQs of General Interest about fishing conditions, accommodations, travel, etc.